Terms your designer wished you knew, Part 2

April 21, 2015 / Comments Off
Posted by Turell Group

Graphic design is a language all its own. To be understood and heard by your designers, it’s best to speak their language. In part one of this series, we shared a glossary of some useful terms when working on design projects. Add these to the list:

1. RGB
That’s red, green and blue. These three colors make up the color model used to project color on a computer screen. Any images and colors you see on a computer screen are RGB.

2. CMYK
It stands for cyan, magenta, yellow and black. CMYK is a color model. These four colors mixed reproduce the colors of the spectrum and are used to describe the color used on printing plates. The K stands for black, but it actually stands for key, as in the key plate of color that adds detail to the job.

3. Responsive design
This refers to web design that has optimal viewing capabilities across all devices (phone, tablet and desktop). This means no more squishing and dragging websites on your mobile device to view a web page. When designing a responsive website, it’s helpful to use a proportional grid system with ample margins between images and text, allowing the layout to collapse or expand for different devices.

4. Orphans/Widows
An orphan is when the last word of a paragraph or sentence is the only word left alone on a line. Designers look at this as something to avoid, because you don’t want just one word left hanging.

5. Comp (Comprehensive sketch)
A comp is a mockup or draft of the project’s look. This provides the client an opportunity to provide feedback and request changes. The designer may come up with at least three different comps to show the client before moving forward on a project.

6. Specs
These are the required dimensions, printing methods, and details for a specific project. Designers need this information at the start of each project to streamline the process and keep it on track.

7. Proof
This is a document from the printer that shows the intended final design. It’s the final review to make sure all type, images and colors are acceptable.

8. Lorem ipsum
Placeholder text that designers use to start a layout with until they receive copy. If you see Lorem ipsum in a rough layout, don’t fret. This gets swapped out for actual copy.

9. Less is more
Remember this when working with designers. Great design is most often as little design as possible.